I'm Not Playing Games! Buying A New Laptop

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › I'm Not Playing Games! Buying A New Laptop

steve181

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#324123 3-Mar-2026 07:37

Hi everyone.

My 11.5 year old laptop has given up the ghost. I urgently need a new laptop; doing everything on my phone isn't fun.

My requirements are;

●$2000 give or take

●15-16" screen

●A decent looking display 120Hz or higher

●Something fast that makes light work of any task (excluding gaming or similar resource hungry tasks).

This was $2100 recently & seemed to fit the bill. Would this be as good as its gets?

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKMSI163023/MSI-Venture-A16-AI-A3HMG-023NZ-16-2K-OLED-120Hz-AM

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#3466122 3-Mar-2026 08:07

If you're not playing games, then look at the HP Probook/Elitebook, or anything in a manufacturers business range. They tend to last longer than standard consumer range.

My wife is still using her 4th Gen Intel based Probook :)

XPD / Gavin

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shk292

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#3466124 3-Mar-2026 08:13

It’s good to see some laptops with better than 1080 resolution screens on the market now. I do a lot of photo editing and viewing so a good screen is number one priority for me.

Comparable to what you have posted are the Lenovo ideapad Pro range with 2.8k screen, for example https://www.lenovo.com/nz/en/p/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-pro-series/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Pro-5i-Gen-10-16-inch-Intel/83jmcto1wwnz1

steve181

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#3466126 3-Mar-2026 08:36

shk292 Lenovo was on my radar. Have you purchased direct from them before?

shk292

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#3466127 3-Mar-2026 08:41

steve181:

shk292 Lenovo was on my radar. Have you purchased direct from them before?

No - my current laptop is a Lenovo but I bought it from Amazon US. It’s now about 6 years old and I’m looking to replace it, and like the look of the current Lenovo one available direct. But the MSI you linked also looks good. I’m quite sure I want better than 1080 screen and that limits non-Apple options

KiwiSurfer

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#3466128 3-Mar-2026 08:45

For Lenovo, note that the Thinkpads are better quality than the other consumer ranges. Not only is the build quality is better but I also note the components/parts are generally from higher quality brands/models -- e.g. my Thinkpads have higher end Samsung SSDs whereas my Ideapad has a cheaper bottom-of-the-barrel SSD. I have both a Thinkpad and Ideapad and the difference is sufficent enough that I would not buy a Ideapad again. Had had heard bad feedback from friends re Lenovo -- I thought it was strange given my positive experiences until I owned both Thinkpads and Ideapads and understood the difference. Friends were buying Lenovo consumer products and disappointed.

Also agree with the suggestion for HP Probook/Elitebook. Have one at work and it is going strong after 3 years. Not my personal preference but I can't fault reliability.

nzkc

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#3466130 3-Mar-2026 08:48

steve181:

shk292 Lenovo was on my radar. Have you purchased direct from them before?

I have several times. Process is pretty good. Generally solid laptops too. Would buy direct again.

If you're flexible with requirements their sale page is worth watching. And you're buying at a good time to find a good deal as its their end of financial year sale: https://www.lenovo.com/nz/en/d/deals/eofy-sale/?ipromoID=Megamenu_Sale

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steve181

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#3466141 3-Mar-2026 09:45

KiwiSurfer:

For Lenovo, note that the Thinkpads are better quality than the other consumer ranges.

I do like the look of the ideapad shk292 linked to. According to ChatGpt it outperforms in almost every way to the MSI laptop i referred to in my first post & its on sale.

It's a first world problem but I'm not a fan of the thinkpad branding by the keyboard.

I'm keen to buy today from Lenovo. I could go $2300 max, can anyone see anything better than shk292's suggestion? Im not being lazy I promise, its just cumbersome navigating the site on my phone.

michaelmurfy

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#3466159 3-Mar-2026 10:18

I would honestly recommend a MacBook Air.

Cheaper, great screens, really solid build quality, incredibly good battery life (~20hrs) and generate next to no heat and as it doesn't have a fan, no fan noise.

16gb of ram would be the bare minimum I'd recommend for Windows. 16gb of ram is plenty for MacOS (it tends to manage this far better). I use a M2 MacBook Air for work and this gets a whole lot of tasks thrown at it.

Sure, MacOS is a bit different than Windows but I feel you'll really like it. Apple have not raised their pricing with the ram shortage so you get more for less right now with them.

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Handsomedan

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#3466172 3-Mar-2026 10:21

michaelmurfy:

I would honestly recommend a MacBook Air.

Cheaper, great screens, really solid build quality, incredibly good battery life (~20hrs) and generate next to no heat and as it doesn't have a fan, no fan noise.

16gb of ram would be the bare minimum I'd recommend for Windows. 16gb of ram is plenty for MacOS (it tends to manage this far better). I use a M2 MacBook Air for work and this gets a whole lot of tasks thrown at it.

Sure, MacOS is a bit different than Windows but I feel you'll really like it. Apple have not raised their pricing with the ram shortage so you get more for less right now with them.

I'd agree with this - however if Windows is your preferred OS, I have been using an HP Elitebook for about 6 months and it's a great business laptop with touchscreen and decent specs for the money.

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steve181

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#3466191 3-Mar-2026 11:29

michaelmurfy:

I would honestly recommend a MacBook Air.

Thanks for the idea but Windows has always been my jam.

I have to use an IPad at work & its fine but I feel a lot more at home with Android/Windows.

steve181

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#3466193 3-Mar-2026 11:34

Handsomedan:

I have been using an HP Elitebook for about 6 months and it's a great business laptop with touchscreen and decent specs for the money.

I ran this through Ai comparing with the lenovo linked above and Lenovo came out on top and is around $600 cheaper?

https://www.hp.com/nz-en/shop/hp-elitebook-8-g1i-16-inch-notebook-ai-pc-bh3j2pt.html?facetref=4e954f9dbc3e8596

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michaelmurfy

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#3466488 3-Mar-2026 15:51

steve181:

Thanks for the idea but Windows has always been my jam.

I have to use an IPad at work & its fine but I feel a lot more at home with Android/Windows.

Is there any particular software you use that is Windows only? As you mentioned you use an iPad it's worth noting that Apple devices work incredibly well together to the point you can also use the iPad (assuming it isn't MDM managed) as a secondary screen even on the go.

The laptops you're posting so far are incredibly expensive for what you're getting (thanks AI). A MacBook is still a worthwhile look if you're not specifically running Windows only applications as it ticks all your boxes. I know you state you feel comfortable in Windows but right now you can get a whole lot more for your money in the Apple world (as weird as that sounds) so it is worth a serious look before throwing in the towel there as MacOS is incredibly capable and you can still run a Windows VM for anything that requires Windows.

I understand it is still personal preference but without knowing what kind of software you're running it's hard to recommend anything. You mention "light work at any tasks" but what tasks are we talking about?

Earbanean

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#3466494 3-Mar-2026 16:27

KiwiSurfer:

For Lenovo, note that the Thinkpads are better quality than the other consumer ranges. Not only is the build quality is better but I also note the components/parts are generally from higher quality brands/models -- e.g. my Thinkpads have higher end Samsung SSDs whereas my Ideapad has a cheaper bottom-of-the-barrel SSD. I have both a Thinkpad and Ideapad and the difference is sufficent enough that I would not buy a Ideapad again. Had had heard bad feedback from friends re Lenovo -- I thought it was strange given my positive experiences until I owned both Thinkpads and Ideapads and understood the difference. Friends were buying Lenovo consumer products and disappointed.

I can totally second this ^^^. We bought an IdeaPad for my son and it took a not too heavy knock that ended up making it a write off. We replaced it with a ThinkPad that has since been bullet proof as a school and now Uni laptop. Better specs and definitely better build quality and robustness. We subsequently bought another 2 ThinkPads, one as another school laptop and one as my wife's home office machine. They have all been great.

We purchased all 3 of the ThinkPads directly from Lenovo in their sales at EOY or Black Friday. The prices were really good and the purchase process, delivery, etc has been faultless. IMO it's worth watching the prices on their site and reacting when the good specials hit. I don't think they're just at EOY and Black Friday. The can typically be up to 40% or more, for not very latest models.

JemS

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#3466560 3-Mar-2026 17:33

I have bought 2 laptops direct from lenovo. Both were great experiences. I bought the yoga 7i 2-in-1 with 32gb of RAM, Intel Ultra 5 228v and the 120hz 2.8k oled touch screen for $2188 Incl GST on a business account. Awesome screen and keyboard, and great build quality.

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steve181

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#3466562 3-Mar-2026 18:06

JemS:

I have bought 2 laptops direct from lenovo. Both were great experiences. I bought the yoga 7i 2-in-1 with 32gb of RAM, Intel Ultra 5 228v and the 120hz 2.8k oled touch screen for $2188 Incl GST on a business account. Awesome screen and keyboard, and great build quality.

I ended up buying this for $2089.

https://www.lenovo.com/nz/en/p/laptops/yoga/yoga-2-in-1-series/lenovo-yoga-7i-2-in-1-gen-10-16-inch-intel/83jtcto1wwnz5?vid=5WWYMLGMBR8SEH2LV3EMW

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